New Jersey Devils' scoring depth could get a lift with Evan Rodrigues

His style also meshes nicely with the way the team plays.

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By Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_THW)

Though the Stanley Cup Final will begin next week, the off-season is starting to kick into high gear for much of the NHL.

By the looks of it, the New Jersey Devils will be quite active, as insiders have already connected them to names such as Kevin Fiala, Johnny Gaudreau and Alex DeBrincat. 

This article will not be about any of those players, however. Instead, we're going to look at someone who could help strengthen the Devils' middle or bottom-six. That player would be Evan Rodrigues, who enjoyed a breakout season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he totaled 19 goals and 42 points in 82 games. 

If the Devils land a big fish like Fiala or Gaudreau, they will need to find value signings that can help strengthen their scoring depth while keeping a healthy salary cap situation. That's how to become a serious playoff contender, and Rodrigues could help them build that depth. 

Rodrigues' breakout year

Over his seven-year career, Rodrigues has always had strong underlying numbers, but he never really had the production to back it.

Before 2021-22, he had averaged 30 points per 82 games, certainly respectable for a player who played a bottom-six role. For the most part, his Corsi and expected goal shares were always above water too. 

Sometimes, that doesn't translate into points and means a player is just a solid bottom-six forward. But there were signs a season ago that perhaps Rodrigues had a bit more scoring punch than he did before joining the Penguins.

He averaged 1.69 points per 60 minutes at five-on-five in 2020-21, his most efficient rate since putting up 2.05 points/60 in 2017-18 with the Buffalo Sabres. He finished the COVID-shortened season with seven goals and 14 points in 35 games — a 16-goal, 33-point pace over 82 games. 

Fast forward to 2021-22 and Rodrigues had a career season. We mentioned the counting totals, but his underlying numbers were much more impressive. He finished with a 56.9 Corsi percentage and 57.66 expected goals percentage while averaging 1.65 points per 60 minutes. 

Rodrigues' shot generation played a big part in his counting totals taking a jump. He finished the season with 243 shots on goal in 82 games and averaged 10.56 shots on goal per 60 minutes, as well as 3.69 high-danger chances per 60 at five-on-five.

While most of these numbers were career highs, they weren't outrageous outliers compared to previous seasons: